FITCHBURG — She wasn’t quite at her best on a blistering day and she was hardly alone.
But Frontier Regional’s Katt Miner was good enough to take first place in the high jump Saturday with a leap of 5 feet, 2 inches at the Central/West Division 2 Track & Field meet at Fitchburg State University.
Most of the competitors were disappointed with their performances on a 95-degree day. Miner was one of them, but after she won, congratulated the runner-up and shook hands with the officials.
“That’s the kind of kid she is,” Frontier coach Bob Smith said. “We’re going to miss her.”
But Frontier’s loss is Michigan’s gain. If the Ann Arbor-bound Miner didn’t have enough pressure being the top seed in the event, Michigan’s women’s track assistant coach Cindy Fowler was in attendance.
“I came in hoping for 5-8 and I wanted to do well in front of Coach Fowler,” Miner said. “I’m happy that I won, but not happy with my performance.”
Fowler left Fitchburg knowing the Wolverines have a special recruit.
“She is very impressive and extremely untapped,” Fowler said. “I thought she handled the heat very well, but it’s tough when you come in at the end because it’s so hard to keep yourself mentally prepared.”
Miner hopes to improve next weekend at All-States in Westfield. She won the Western Massachusetts Division 2 title with a jump of 5-6 last weekend at Mohawk.
“She’s going to get a lot better and we can’t wait to have her,” Fowler said. “Just getting in the weight room and learning technique will help her jump higher.”
It was an unusual day for the high jumpers. There were jumps of 4-8, 4-10 and 5-2 that wiped out more than 30 competitors.
“Katt did what she had to do,” Smith said.
Hampshire Regional’s Taylor Blow only started competing in the 2-mile run this season, but looks like she’s been at it her entire track career.
Her rise in cross country during her senior year convinced her to switch from mile to 2-mile.
Fresh off a first-place finish at the D-2 sectional meet, Blow secured second place Saturday. She came in at 11 minutes, 33.70 seconds, just behind champion Sarah Cavanaugh of Auburn (11:25.29).
“I was happy with my time,” Blow said. “I didn’t want to kill it the first couple of laps before I picked it up. The heat made it a different race.”
Had Blow matched her time from the previous week (11:22), she could have won. But the hot conditions (it was 95 degrees at the start of the meet and even hotter on the track) had an impact on her time.
“It was hot and I did a lot of cooling off and made sure I drank plenty of water,” Blow said.
Not that Blow would use that as an excuse. She came away knowing she qualified for next week’s All-State meet.
“It should be cooler next week,” Blow said.
South Hadley’s Sarah Fudger finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles in 1:10.22.
South Hadley placed fourth in the 4×800 relay, and fifth in both the 4×800 and 4×100 relays.
Bromfield won the championship with 60½ points. Littleton was second with 56. South Hadley was ninth with 27½.
Hampshire Regional’s John O’Connor took third (146-1) in javelin. Teammate Henry Seney was fourth (145-9).
Hampshire’s Dylan Cross finished fourth in pole vault (12-0) after finishing first in clearing 12-6 at the sectional meet last week. Frontier’s Clay Kocot was seventh (11-0) and teammate Andy Habel 12th (10-0).
Kocot was also sixth in the 400 (53.16).
Frontier’s Connor Hamilton finished fourth in the 800 in 2:01.8.
Auburn took the team title with 66½ points.